UNIVERSALCoal, the Australian-listed coal miner operating in South Africa, said it had received a non-binding offer from a consortium led by Ata Resources Proprietary in which it will offer A$0.35 cents/share for the company.
The non-binding offer details a number of conditions that include Universal entering into an implementation agreement with the consortium, and that it is able to secure more than 50% of shareholder support for the offer which includes delisting the company. The offer is so far backed by Coal Development Holdings BV, which owns 27.5% of Universal Coal.
Independent directors of Universal Coal would be meeting as soon as was practical, said Universal Coal CEO, Tony Weber, in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Shares in the company are trading at A$0.32c/share.
Universal Coal announced sales tonnes for the 2018 financial year of some 4.7 million tonnes (Mt) of which 2.9Mt was attributable to shareholders and compares with total sales tonnes of 3Mt in the 2017 financial year. The majority of this increase was driven by New Clydesdale Colliery’s first full year of name plate production volumes.
